1822.] On a Section of the Strata, S^c, 221 



and natural undulations of the surface in the neighbourhood of 

 Newcastle become exchanged for more rugged and alpine eleva- 

 tions ; the fertile valleys of the Tees, the Wear, and the Tyne, 

 are greatly contracted in breadth, and separated by sterile and 

 desolate mountains, whose summits for a great part of the year 

 are covered with snow. 



"Among these mountains are distributed the various valuable 

 lead mines, which constitute so large a part of the mineral 

 treasures of Great Britain, and equal, if not excel in productive- 

 ness any yet discovered in the world.'' 



Here we must stop our quotation to remind Mr. Forster that 

 he is not writing a poem or a romance, but that, as the author 

 of a book which may be hereafter referred to for facts, he ought 

 to have been more careful. Before advancing so much, he 

 should have inquired, and a very slight research would have 

 informed him better. 



That the lead mines in question can form so large a part of 

 the mineral treasures of Great Britain as this sentence would 

 imply cannot be true, if the iron, the copper, the tin, and the 

 lead, of other districts be for a moment considered. 



But as correctness of facts is of the first value in works of 

 this kind, and to statistical inquirers is most important, we 

 shall do our best to show how this matter stands. 



Excluding the iron from our account, although both that and 

 coal are mineral treasures of the very first importance, yet they 

 are not derived from veins such as Mr. Forster had in his view ; 

 and, secondly, because we do not know any good estimate of 

 the value of iron in this kingdom. 



We shall confine ourselves then to the produce of the true 

 mines of the metals, of which accounts may be procured. 



We will first state the proportion of lead which these mines 

 produce compared with that of the kingdom at large ; and though 

 irom documents before us, we should have ranked them higher 

 in this respect, yet we must of course take Mr. Forster's account 

 to be correct. We wish that instead of a short average of the 

 quantity of lead ore raised annually from 1800 to 1821, he had 

 given us tables of each year's produce. Such tables would be 

 very interesting, particularly when compared with prices preced- 

 ino or succeeding changes of quantity. 



We have, in the following statement, added two columns, one 

 in which the ore is reckoned in pig lead, according to Mr. Fors- 

 ter's rule ; and the second, in which the value is stated, taking it 

 at ^24 per ton, its probable value when smelted and delivered 

 at the usual places of shipment ; and we shall reckon the value 

 of the metals from other districts in the same way. 



Mr. Forster states the average annual produce ending with 

 1820,p. 420, asunder: 



